Oscars 2014: Gravity dominates, but 12 Years a Slave wins best film

Gravity may be set in space, but it achieved a landslide at the 86th Academy Awards, taking seven Oscars, while 12 Years a Slave went home with three.

The technical prowess of Alfonso Cuarón's sci-fi drama meant it dominated the first half of the ceremony, taking visual effects, sound editing, sound mixing, cinematography, editing and original score. It was that final couple of categories which pointed the way to the landslide ahead; Cuarón himself jointly accepted the award for editing, though he was cut off by the orchestra before being able to speak.

His chance came later, when he picked up the prize for best director, making him the first Latino film-maker to take the honour. In a speech that mixed English and Spanish, he thanked his family and crew, in particular Sandra Bullock, "the soul, the heart of the film … and one of the best people I ever met".

In her opening monologue, ceremony host Ellen DeGeneres addressed the central battle between Gravity and 12 Years a Slave. There were two possibilities for the evening, she said – "That 12 Years a Slave wins the best picture Oscar. And possibility two: you're all racists."

It was a relief, then, when McQueen's drama did indeed take the big prize. Picking up his award alongside producer Brad Pitt, McQueen offered thanks to cast, crew and family, particularly "all the women in my life".

He went on to dedicate the award to "the 21 million people who still endure slavery" and quoted from the film saying "everyone deserves not just to survive but to live".

The film's star, Lupita Nyong'o, was a popular winner of the best supporting actress prize earlier in the evening, while John Ridley took the best adapted screenplay prize. Both dedicated their wins to Solomon Northup, whose memoir the film is based on.

Dallas Buyers Club also performed strongly, taking both male acting awards, as well as best hair and makeup. Jared Leto picked up the first award of the evening, for best supporting actor, and used his speech to give a shout out to citizens of Ukraine. He also paid tribute to those who had died from Aids, the disease that the film focuses on.

Picking up the best actor award, Matthew McConaughey – whose career has seen an unprecedented renaissance in recent years – thanked God, his family (in particular his late father, whom he pictured in heaven) and his hero, who turned out to be himself, 10 years hence: "It keeps me as somebody who keeps on chasing."

Cate Blanchett had been seen as the one dead cert, and she progressed to take home the best actress prize as anticipated. In her speech, Blanchett paid tribute to her fellow nominees individually, as well to her director Woody Allen, who many felt she might neglect to mention, following the storm of negative publicity surrounding Allen in recent weeks.

Paolo Sorrentino's The Great Beauty won best foreign language film, with the director offering thanks to, among others, Fellini, Scorsese, Maradona, Rome and his brother Marco.

There was a minor upset in the documentary category, in which the odds-on The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer's surreal and inventive study of the Indonesian death squads of the 1960s, was trumped by 20 Feet from Stardom, about the lot of the backing singer. The film was the one triumph for the Weinstein Company, whose fortunes dipped a little following many years of Oscars dominance.